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Rabat – A Tangier judge sentenced Felix Ramos to nine years in prison after finding him guilty of statutory rape and indecent assault of two minors. The judge announced the sentence on Thursday, November 7.
In addition to the prison sentence, the judge ordered that the accused pay MAD 60,000 in compensation to the anti-pedophilia NGO “Don’t Touch My Child.”
The accused is a journalist and owner of a television channel in Marbella, Spain. Ramos is known to the Spanish and Moroccan courts for selling falsified titles, distinctions, and diplomas on behalf of several institutions.
One of Ramos’s victims filed a complaint against the Spanish national in June of 2018. Although the 20-year-old Moroccan withdrew his complaint on September 12, 2019, prosecutors pursued the case despite the significantly weakened evidence.
During the trial, Ramos, assisted by an interpreter, denied all the charges alleged against him. This maneuver earned him the maximum penalties for his crimes, according to French-language news outlet Le360.
The victim accused Ramos of raping him when he was 14 and living at a homeless shelter in Tangier.
According to the Arabic-language daily Assabah, Ramos frequently visited the homeless shelter where the victim resided. He approached the 14-year-old boy and offered to teach him photography.
Ramos also promised the boy documentation and accommodation in Spain. The TV presenter then invited the boy to a five-star hotel in Tangier, where the first instance of sexual assault took place.
Ramos took the victim on trips to Casablanca, Marrakech, and Chefchaouen. During these trips, the pedophile continued to rape the boy. The abuse continued for three years, and Ramos paid the boy to stay silent.
In the initial June 2018 report, the victim alleged that the accused invited Rafael Ojeda, a 41-year-old flamenco singer from Sevilla, to join the abuse. Ojeda reportedly raped the victim for four days.
When the victim withdrew his complaint from Tangier’s court on September 12, prosecutors feared that Ramos would escape jail time. Taib Bouchaiba, the regional coordinator of “Don’t Touch My Child,” believes the victim received money from Ramos’s circle.
According to Bouchaiba, other homeless young people in Tangier could have been victims of similar abuses. “These children living on the street are the new victims of pedophiles who come here for what is called ‘sex tourism,’” he said.
These young people seek for the most part to sell their bodies to survive. “It’s an easy solution when they need money. They do not always want to lodge a complaint because they live on it,” says Bouchaiba.
“It took several days for the young man to trust us and eventually file a complaint,” he added.
Thanks to the Tangier Court of Appeal, Ramos will not be walking free anytime soon. While this is a victory in Morocco, Bouchaiba believes that Ramos is only one part of a wider network of foreign pedophiles.
